29-06-2025
What is Dorset's one signature dish according to readers?
Britain is a unique and wonderful place that has lots of food items tied to specific regions, and Dorset is no different.
Across the realm of sweet and savoury, the county has a few things that fall into the category of items tied to the region.
However, what do people who live in Dorset themselves consider to be the county's signature dish?
We posed the question to Daily Echo readers on Facebook, and here is what you had to say.
More than 100 comments were left on the Facebook post, and the same few items got a lot of mentions.
One of those was Dorset apple cake, with one person saying: "Definitely Dorset apple cake!"
Overall, it got 25 separate mentions, with another recommending it with Devon custard.
The rustic dish combines chunks of apple, warm spices and is dusted with demerara sugar.
Dorset apple cake was named as the county's 'national dish' back in 2006 (Image: Newsquest)
Despite being crowned as Dorset's 'National Dish' back in 2006, the origins of the apple cake are hazy.
The Dorset History Centre blog tried finding a recipe in its archives to no avail, but did find one mentioned in the Bridport News from November 27, 1896.
It is likely that the origins go further back than that, and some may also question what makes the Dorset apple cake distinct from other West Country varieties, such as the Devonshire apple cake.
The writer Philip Strange proposed that it probably wasn't, with it just having gained a "certain mystique".
This was partly "through the appropriation of the cake as the county food and partly with the enhanced foodie profile of Dorset".
While Dorset apple cake was the most popular answer, a few other food items got a few mentions.
One of those was the Dorset Knob, which is a kind of hard, savoury biscuit.
Dorset Knobs were originally made to use up leftover bread in bakeries (Image: Newsquest)
According to Dorset Food & Drink, they were originally made to use up leftover bread dough by bakers.
After that, extra butter and sugar were added and they were then hand rolled and left to dry in the dying heat of the oven.
They are quite crumbly and dry, and can be paired with another famous Dorset food in Blue Vinny cheese.
One reader combined all of these in their answer, saying: "Dorset knob with a blue vinny followed by either dorset apple cake or a portland pudding."
Dorset Blue Vinny is made near Sturminster Newton (Image: Dorset Blue Vinny)
Blue Vinny is a traditional blue cheese made near Sturminster Newton that has a hard and crumbly texture.
According to the Dorset Blue Vinny website, the cheese was once made in nearly every farmhouse in Dorset until the Second World War, when production died out entirely.
They added: "Historically, the farmers' wife made the cheese using left over milk after the cream had been skimmed off to make butter.
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"As a result, it had a very crumbly, dry texture and a lower fat content than many other cheeses."
While the cheese was not officially produced for many decades after the war, Michael Davies resurrected it in the early 1980s using a 350-year-old recipe.
His business is the only producer of the cheese to this day and was awarded a PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status for it in 1998.
